Containers for housing liquids or materials are useful in a variety of applications. Numerous cleaning machines store cleaning fluids in tanks, as well as containing liquid recovered from a floor surface during the cleaning process. Tanks for storing gasoline are common parts of vehicles.
With regard to the making of containers used with cleaning machines, it is well-known to mold such containers by well-established molding processes. Conventional mold materials are typically utilized in making such containers. Often times it is worthwhile to mold an insert into the container. That is, before the unit or article is molded, an insert is desirably positioned with the molding tool. During the molding process, the insert becomes part of the molded unit. Such inserts can have a number of different uses including as container or tank dividers or baffles. When used as part of a divider, the insert contributes to a separation between sections of an interior or chamber of the container. In one embodiment, an insert is useful as part of a divider assembly in a cleaning machine tank in which cleaning fluid is maintained separately from recovered liquid so that there is no unwanted mixing. In another embodiment, one or more baffles are included or molded into the tank during the molding process. The baffles act to dampen fluid flow and thereby reduce the impact of moving liquid in the tank.
An exemplary process for molding containers is a rotational molding process that sometimes is identified as "rotomolding". Briefly, this process involves rotating a tool assembly at desired temperatures about at least two different axes, with mold powder or material located within the tool assembly. At the conclusion of the rotomolding process, the tool assembly is separated or otherwise removed from the resulting molded unit. The use of the rotomolding process to make tanks having inserts is well-established in the prior art.
Notwithstanding such prior art disclosures and procedures, it would be advantageous to provide a rotomolding process that incorporates an insert in a straightforward manner, while achieving a high-quality molded unit with an insert member accurately disposed and solidly attached as part of the molded unit. It would be further advantageous to provide a fixture assembly that facilitates the holding of the insert during the molding process and is also easily separated from the molded unit after the rotomolding process is finished.